Method of desiccating fluid substances.



W. S. OSBORNE.

METHOD OF DESIOUATING FLUID SUBSTANCES.

APPLIOATIOH FILED NOV. 8, 1906.

Patented June 28, 1910.

3 8BEETB-BHEET 1.

Witnesses:

W. S. OSBORNE.

METHOD OI DESIGCATING FLUID SUBSTANGES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1906.

Patented June 28, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 a Qua/mm.

W. S. OSBORNE.

METHOD OF DESIOUATING FLUID BUBSTLHOEB.

APPLIOATXOH FILED I0?- B. 1908.

962,781 Patented June 28, 1910.

air and will be almost immediately desic- UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. OSBORNE, OF HYDE PARK. MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, IBY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, 130 AMERICAN DESICCATING COMPANY, A. CORPORATION OF MAINE.

METHOD OF IlESICGATING FLUID SUBSTANCES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 28, 1910.

Application filed November 8, 1906. Serial No. 342,5.47.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLun S. Osnonxe, a citizen of the United States. residing at Hyde Park, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Desiccating Fluid Substances; and I do hereby declare .the following to be a full. clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appcrtains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an im proved method of dcsiccating fluid substances".

Many substances of a normally-fluid char acter, such as milk, eggs. and various fruit juices, are used in more or less concentr ted or desiccated condition in the manufacture of various food products. Thus, for ex- :nnplc, the solid colnpol'lcuts suspended and dissolved in milk are used in the manufacture of chocolate. butter, and cheese, while the solid components of fruit juices are used in the form of jelly and of flawn'ing extracts, the water forming the bulk of, such substances being extracted by various well.- known methods adapted to the particular substances operated upon. In er or to facilitate the desiccation of such substances it has been proposed to introduce them in a finely-divided or atomized coiidition into a current or body of air being referably warmed, so that each )article 0 material will be exposed to the rying action of the catcd and reduced to a particle of solid ma-. terial, the material hein then collected by gravity or otherwise. This method cn'oys the advantages that it is rapid, the pro action of thoroughly desiccated material beginningalmost immediately upon the mcep tion of the process, andthat itdoes not ne-' ccssitatc heating the material sufiiciently toalter its character. It also s particularly well adapted to the preparatlon, m a portable and permanent form, of such articles as inilk and e gs, which can. be preseryed, in their nature state, only for short periods and by the exercise of extraordinary precautions. Such substanccs, when thoroughly freed from water, are protected from fermentation and may be stored and handled like other solids.

The process above referred to, as helctotore practiced, has been unsatisfactory owmg to the precipitation upon the surfaces of the apparatus of the atomized )articles of material before they are thorough y desiccated, and to the difliculty of completely collecting the desiccated material without; waste, and the object of the )resent invention is to produce a method ov carrying out. this rocess by which these ditliculties are arch ed and bywhich the production of a thoroughly desiccated product is generally improved. and rendered more economical and satisfactory.

The invention consists in the method hereinafter described, as defined in the claims.

' In the drawings Figure 1. is an elevation of an apparatus for carrying out the imprmed method herein described. Fig.- 2 is a general plan view of the apparatus, Fig. 3 1s a detail section through one of the spraying devices, and Fig. 4 is a detail horizontal section through one of the atomizels. The process carried out by the apparatus of the drawings, briefly described. consists in introducing the material to be desiccated in a finely-divided or atomized conditiomto a current of warm ai1.',-maiutaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until the material is thoroughly desiccated, separating the bulk of the desiccated material from the air by a method of di dust collection, introducing a spray of iquid, preferably of the liquid material, into the air current to collect the residue of the desiccated material, and collecting the sprayed material and reintroducing it through the atomizing devices to be again desiccated.

The current of air by which the material is desiccated is induced by an exhauster 1, which is an ordinary centrifugal fan,

through the suspension chamber 2 in which the material is desiccated. The air enters the bottom of a vertical air trunk 3 which is provided at its lower portion with steam coils 4- to warm the air. From the trunk 3 the air passes horizontally through a passage 5, entering the suspension chamber 2 tangentially. as shown in Fig. 2. lVithin the suspension chamber the air takes 11 a whirling motion owing to the circular orm of the chamber and the direction of the inlet, and after passing several times around the chamher the air enters the lower end of the outlet trunk 6,.which is centrally disposed in the suspension chamber and is connected at its a per end with the eye of the exhauster 1 e upper portion of the air trunk 3 is pro vided with openin into. which a number of atomizers 7 disc arge. These atomizers each comprise an inner 'et tube 8 through which the fluid material is fed, and an outer concentric tube 9 through which compressed air is introduced. The atomizers are mounted upon vertical nipples 10 fixed on horizontal air-supply pipes 11 which connect at their ends with the main air supply pipe 12, connected with a suitable source of compressed air. The nipples 10 have lateral openings 13 which communicate with the air tubes 9 when the atomizers are in operative position, but when it is desired to examine or clean one of the atomizers it may be swung to one side, whereupon the assage in the air tube 9 ceases to reglster wit the outlet 13, thereby shutting off the air from the atomizer in question without interfering with the operation of the other atomizers. The tube 8 of each atomizer is connected, as shown in Fi 1, by means of a flexible tube 15 controll by a stop cock 16, with the material-sup ly p1pe 17 through which the material to desiccated is delivered the supply pipe 17 being connected witllla verticpl i e 18 enterin at its u per "en a so P y i aiik 19. Owing to the a bove-describetf arrangement the material is introduced into the current of air flowin into the suspension chamber 2 in a finely ivided or atomized condition, and during the protracted passage of the air current through the suspension chamber the particles of material are thoroughly desiccated so that when the air final] emerges through the outlet 6 the materia is suspended in the air in the form of a fine dr powder or dust. Any material which col ects upon the walls of the suspension chamber in its liquid form will run down throu h the conical bottom of the chamber an escape through an outlet 20, but it is to be noted that since the air is exhausted from the outlet 6 and not forced into the inlet of the suspension chamber its tendency is toward the center of the chamber so that there is little tendency of the material to be proected against the walls of the chamber, an furthermor since the general direction of motion of t e air current in the chamber is centripetal the tendency of the material to fly out of sus nsion through the action of centrifugal orce is lar 1y counteracted.

be current of air and material, after passin through the exhauster'l, passes through a iorizontal trunk 22 and enters tangentially, at 23, a collector 24, which is an ordina Here the bulk of the desiccated material is collected from the air current'by impinging inst the .walls of the collector owing to t e whirling motion of the air therein, and

form of centrifugal dust collector.-

beam

the material so collected escapes through the outlet 25 at the bottom of the collector as the finished product of the recess herein described. A portion of the esiccated material, articularly the finer powder, escapes the col ector 24 and passes with the air current out through the outlet trunk 26. In order to collect this residue the air current is introduced through a tangential inlet 27 to another similar collector 28. The collector 28 is provided with means for introducing a spray of liquid into the air current to collect the desiccated material remaining therein. A compressed air p 25) and a iquid-sup ly pipe 30 surround the upper portion ot the collector 28 and are connected respectigely with the compressed air main 12 and the liquid supply pipe 18. At intervals about the periphery of the collector 28 the pipes 29 and 30 are connected by horizontal and vertical pipes 3i and 32 as shown in Fig. 3, and the horiz )ntal pipes 31 enter the casing of the collector. Through valves 33 in the pipes 31 a regular flow of compressed air may be admitted to the col lector, and through a valve 34 in the pipe 30 liquid material is introduced through the connecting pipes 32, into the pipes 31, and is blown into the collector in the form of a fine spray by means of the compressed air. This spray mingles with the air entering through the inlet 27 and whirls about in the interior of the collector, and the dust remainin in the air is collected by contact with the fiquid spray and is deposited therewith upon the walls of the collector. The fluid so collected runs through the conical bottom of the collector and issues through an outlet 36 into a tank 37.

The tank 37 is-connected with a rotary amp 38 by which the li uid is withdrawn mm the tank and force upward through a check valve 39 and through the pipe 18 into the supply tank 19. By this arrangement the liquid material used to collect the residue of the desiccated material is saved and both the liquid and the desiccated material dissolved or suspended therein may be used over again in the collector 28, and are eventually reintroduced through the atomizers 7 to the air current to be again atomized and desiccated. Thus no part of the product escapes throu h the ap aratns, and the material, as introtfilced to t e atomizers, acquires, after the apparatus has been in use for some time, a denser consistency than when first introduced, owing to the collection of the desiccated material in the collector 28, so that its desiccation is facilitated.

Althou h the use of the dry collector 24 permits the immediate obtention of a finished product, it should be noted that the ap aratus ma be operated without this collector, the an bein arran to deliver direct to the spray col ector. 1th such an arrangement the materials sup lied to the apparatus will become more an more dense until the r uired degree of desiccation is obtained, an such a process may be carried out where it is desired merely to condense and not to thoroughly dry the material.

An important feature of the invention consists in the use of means, such as the suspension chamber 2, whereb the air current, after the introduction 0 the material, is maintained in motion for a substantial period of time and the material is maintained thus in sus ension in the air until it has been thorou h y desiccated.

Although in t 1e referred embodiment of the invention the liquid used in the spray collector is the liquid material to be desiccated, it is not necessary that this be used since pure water or other liquid may be used in this connection, particularly where the substance operated upon is of too viscous a character to be conveniently used in the spray collector, as, for example, in desiccatin" eggs. In such a case the material collected in the spray collector is not lost, since the water or other liquid so used may be introduced to the atomizers along with the liquid material, and the material thereby is recovered from the spraying liquid.

in the apparatus of the, drawings the supply of material may be conveniently replenished by addition to the contents of the tank 37, such addition being raised by the pump 38.

The invention is not limited to the use of any particular means for maintaining the air current in motion, since various means may be used in which the air may traverse a path of a non-circular character, the essential feature being the maintenance of the motion of the air for a suitable length of time and the avoidance of projection of the suspended material against the walls of the apparatus until it has become desiccated.

The invention is not, 111 general, limited to the details of the herein described method, butmay be performed by ap aratus of other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of desiccating fluid sub stances which consists in forming an air current, introducing material in atomized condition to said air current, maintaining said air current by renewing the air constantly in sulficient volume to desiccate the material, separating the material from the air, by creating a whirling motion and dis charging the air, the separationand discharge being eflected without clo ging by the product, substantially as described.

2. The method of desiceating fluid substances which eonsists in introducing the material in atomized condition to a current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until the material is desiccated, and then introducing into the air a liquid spray to collect the material, substantially as described.

3. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the material intoa current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until the material is desiccated, separating the bulk of the material from the air by a method of dry collection, and collecting the residue by introducing a liquid spray to the air, substantially as described.

4. The method of desiecating fluid sub-' stances which consists in introducing the material to a current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until. the material is desiccated, introducing a liquid spray to the air to collect the desiccated material, collecting the liquid, and rc-introducing the liquid and the material contained therein into the air current in atomized conditionand again desiccating the material,substantially as described.

5. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the fluid material in atomized condition to a current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the fluid in suspension until the material is desiccated, introducing more of the fluid material in a spray to collect the desiccated material, collecting the sprayed material, reintroducing it in atomized form, and again desiccating it, substantially as described.

6. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the fluid material in'atomized conditionto a current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until the material is desiccated, collecting the bulk of the desiccated material by a method of dry collection, introducing to the air current a spray of the liquid material to collect the residue of the desiccated material, collecting the sprayed material, re-introducing it in atomized form to the air current, and again desiccating it, substantially as described.

7. The method of desicca'ting fluid substances which consists in introducing the fluid material in atomized condition to a current of air, maintaining the air in motion and the material in suspension until the material is desiccated, separating the bulk of the material from the air centrifugally, introducing to the air current a spray of the liquid material to collect the residue of the desiccated material, collecting the sprayed material, re-introducing it in atomized form to the air current, and a ain desiccating it, substantially as described:

8. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the material in atomized condition to a current of air, inducing a whirlin motion in the air, withdrawing the air an suspended material from the center of the vortex thus formed, and collecting the material from the air, substantially as described.

9. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the material in atomized condition to a current of air, inducing a whirling motion in the air, withdrawing the air and suspended material from the center of the vortex thus formed, and separating the material from the air centrifugally, substantially as described.

10. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the material in atomized condition to a current of air, inducing a whirling motion in the air, withdrawing the air and suspended material from the center of the vortex thus formed, separating the bulk of the material from the air centrifugally, and introducing to the air current a spray of liquid material and thereby collecting the residue of the material, substantially as described.

11. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing the material in atomized condition to a. current of air. inducing a whirling motion in the air, \vitiulrau'ing the air and suspended material from the center of the vortex thus formed, separating the bulk of the material from the air ccntrifugally, introducing into the air a liquid spray to collect the residue of the desiccated material, collecting the sprayed material, re-lntroducing it in atomized form to the air current, and again desiccating it, substantially as described.

12. The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in formin a current of air, introducing the material in atomized condition to said current of air, maintaining said air current by renewing the air constantly in snflicient volume to desiccate the material, separating the material from the air centrifugally and discharging the air without clogging by the product, substantially as described.

13. The method of desiccating fluid substances Which consists in forming a whirling air current in one chamber and forcing the I air therefrom into a separating chamber, in-

air current, exhausting the air and the-material from said chamber, forcing the air and material into a separating chamber, and separating the material from the air by a vortex action and dischar 'ng without cloggin by the product, su stantially as descri ed.

15. The method of desiccating milk which consists in intrmlnciug the milk in atomized form to a current of air, thus causing the air to absorb the water contained in the milk, then partially separating the dried particles of milk from the air current, and then introducing said air current and its residual particles of dried milk into liquid milk and efi'ecting a still further separation of the dried milk particles from said air, substantially as described.

In testimon whereof I affix my signature, in presence 0 two Witnesses.

WILLIAM S. OSBORNE.

Witnesses:

HORACE VAN EVEREN, C. E. Snow. 

